5 Biggest Wins of Raphael Assuncao’s Career

Jorge Masvidal (Full Throttle 1 – April 21, 2005)

Masvidal is a born fighter, showing his skills on the “backyard” scene long before making his way into the Strikeforce (and now UFC) spotlight. He was the first truly tough foe Assuncao faced, though not unbeatable as evident from Assuncao’s successful showing. Their match-up went the distance with Assuncao’s grappling proving to be a bit better than Masvidal’s less-refined attack and earned him the judges' favor.

Joe Lauzon (Absolute Fighting Championships 15 – February 8, 2006)

In 2006 Lauzon showed star potential by shocking the world and beating Jens Pulver inside the Octagon. However, months before he pulled off the upset Lauzon was busy getting tapped out by Assuncao. The performance was particularly notable based on Lauzon’s own ability to grapple, showing Assuncao’s submission skills have been dangerous for a long time.

Yves Jabouin (WEC 43 – October 10, 2009)

Assuncao came close to challenging for gold in WEC thanks to his win over Jabouin. However, taming “Tiger” wasn’t easy and it took everything Assuncao could muster to narrowly outpoint the Canadian competitor. Beating Jabouin was not only important because it was an important win, but also because it served as evidence of Assuncao’s ability to overcome adversity and rise to the occasion.

L.C. Davis (WEC 52 – November 11, 2010)

While the victory itself wasn’t exactly awe inspiring, few triumphs have been as crucial to Assuncao’s career as the one he picked up against Davis at one of WEC’s final shows. Assuncao entered the bout on a two-fight skid, falling to Urijah Faber and Diego Nunes respectively. Chances are he never would have received an offer to fight in the UFC if he’d lost to Davis. It also afforded him the ability to lose to Erik Koch in his Octagon debut before making the dip down to 135 pounds where he’s looked sharper than ever.

Mike Easton (UFC on FOX 5 – December 8, 2012)

Assuncao’s last win came via submission in June against Vaughan Lee. While Lee is a fairly skilled scrapper, in his previous pairing he faced Easton, a heavy-handed wrestler looking like a future title-contender when he collided with Assuncao. “The Hulk” was on an eight-fight winning streak at the time including a 3-0 mark in the Octagon. Assuncao quickly put an end to the hype, looking sharp in every facet of the fight en route to a Unanimous Decision nod.

UFC bantamweight Raphael Assuncao has been a fighter worth watching for nearly a decade despite only being 31 years old. He kicked his career off with nine straight wins with all but one featuring a finish and then strung another six triumphs together after suffering his first defeat. After struggling to find his footing for a few years, Assuncao decided to drop down from featherweight and hasn’t looked back since with a quartet of consecutive victories. If he beats T.J. Dillashaw on Wednesday night at UFC Fight Night 29 it will put Assuncao in discussion for a crack at top contendership, marking one more impressive performance in a career featuring a fair share of similarly significant instances of success. (Photos by USA Today Sports Images)